Daniel Calparsoro He has been showing for years that he feels a special interest in fast-paced stories. Still recent is the great success she had with ‘up to heaven’, which will soon have a television sequel, and just a few months ago we were able to see the series ‘Operación Marea Negra’, in which he signed two episodes. He now returns with ‘Centauro’, a Netflix original movie in which he prioritizes the adrenaline overdose above everything else.
French film remake ‘Burn Out’which in turn adapted a novel by Jeremie Guez, ‘Centauro’ tells the story of a young man who dreams of becoming a professional motorcycling driver. However, life has something different in store for him, since he will be little less than forced to lend his services to some drug traffickers to pay off a debt that the mother of his son has contracted.
With full throttle
The best thing about ‘Centauro’ is that Calparsoro shows that he has very clear ideas from the start and that we’re not here to watch a movie with any kind of dramatic depth. Yes, there are notes about the sacrifices he has to make, about social inequality and his relationship with his ex, but he goes through all of them quickly because there is simply no time for more.
And I am not exaggerating with that statement, since the end credits appear during the 84th minute of the film. For this reason, ‘Centauro’ has a fairly lively rhythm from the first moment and the closest thing to delight is found in the scenes in which the protagonist has to demonstrate his skills riding a motorcycle, both within a circuit and outside the.
It is in those moments that Calparsoro is seen most enjoying himself behind the cameras. He already flirted with it in the very forgettable ‘Combustion’ and here he chooses to go directly to the point at all times so that it is very difficult for the viewer to get bored. yes by the way some filigree can be allowed as in that persecution in the middle of the independence revolt -perhaps the best scene of the entire show-, well, even better.
Of course, do not expect much beyond that, since all the characters are based on one or two traits and there is not the slightest interest in them being more than the necessary pieces to go from one scene to another. This is especially evident in the case of secondaries, but it also affects a Alex Monner who does enough to keep up the type and try to give some credibility to the dialogues that he has to recite.
In fact, the signings of Monner and a wasted Begona Vargasrecently seen in ‘Welcome to Eden’, follows a similar strategy to the one already used by Calparsoro in ‘Hasta el cielo’: young, attractive and rising actors to have a better chance of being a success. We will soon find out.
without complicating
This attempt that the protagonists are people from the neighborhood also goes a bit in that direction and thus establish a greater connection with the public. It is still a claim that goes little beyond the obvious, as is its romantic content with the inevitable bed scene between its two protagonists. All well measured to give us what we are supposed to expect from such a production.
That also leads to a total absence of surprises in the script, where the dramatic evolution that we expect on all fronts is followed by heart. Yes, with this clear tendency to not dwell on anything, the most questionable aspects of the script are prevented from becoming too heavy a slab, but in exchange, a little more daring in the action scenes would have been good, where an extra point of brutality would have been a fable for him in the most violent moments.
Other than that, thanks that visual intensity that Calparsoro seeks almost every moment -although later there are scenes in which it fits better than in others-, or that it reduces everything related to morals and vital lessons to a minimum. This is nothing more than a hobby at full speed and there it is not that it is memorable, but it does fulfill enough.
In short
‘Centauro’ arrives on Netflix knowing full well that it does not stop being a consumer entertainment as fast as it will be forgotten. It doesn’t get too complicated in anything and bets on a vibrant rhythm so that the viewer simply gets carried away by what happens on their screen. Passable and that’s itbut far from being among the best films on the platform in 2022 and it is not that it occupies a privileged position among Spanish Netflix feature films to date.